davasi

I was on vacation last week, so I haven't had time to reply (I try to use my "dumbphone" as little as possible on family vacations). My commute is 10 miles round trip. I live in Unincorporated Seminole in Pinellas County, FL. It is unfortunately not the most bike friendly area, but luckily I have one, two-lane road, complete with bike lanes that takes me all the way up to the Pinellas County Trail. I work maybe two blocks from a trail exit where I use the sidewalk. I know that is a contentious issue, but if you know about Park Blvd you'd ride on the sidewalk too. I work a late shift (or tour as it is called at the phone company), so I have some night riding involved but as I am a safety nut at work I make sure I am extremely visible on the trail as well as roads. I went the BD route for my bike. I bought the Motobecane Cafe Express8. I have a good friend that works at an LBS and he had me bring it in and make sure everything was solid on it. It was, but my brake adjusting needs a little practice. I am loving the Shimano 8-speed IGH on it. The only things I wasn't too happy with were the saddle and pedals. I ordered a Brooks today. I tried my buddy's and it was sweet. I haven't got a rack or bag yet, but ordered some planet bike fenders. I had to get some smaller tires so I could go with the 45mm fenders instead of the 60mm ATB ones. My bike came stock with 700X40c. I got some 35c to allow fender clearance. My light setup seems sufficient. Tons of light pollution on the trail, and the roads are well lit around here. I'm still loving it, and am down to smoking a couple cigs when I hit the pub on the weekend. I think maybe I should ride to Dunedin, they have bars right off the trail there. That might make me not want to smoke as much after having a few.